Safe Haven
by Hexe
Summary: Something precious from Gibbs' secret past comes into the team's lives. When he needs someone to trust, it seems natural that he turns to Abby.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own them, I just use them for my own entertainment.

Nestled in safe arms, the tiny child slept, her thumb tucked gently within her mouth, steady breaths causing her chest to rise and fall in a regular rhythm. She was unaware of the uproar her presence caused to the people around her, unaware of the world at this time, entranced in her dreams. The safest place this girl had.

"She's so cuuuute!" Abby's squeal was soft, measured so as not to wake the sleeping infant, though she couldn't resist stroking a gentle finger across the child's cheek, revelling at how vulnerable she seemed, how her maternal instincts jumped immediately, her first thought being to protect the tiny bundle.

"She's a child, not a plaything, Abbs." His voice was soft as he shifted the tiny girl, rocking her in his arms while she slept.

"Why did you bring her here, Gibbs?" the curiosity in her eyes was bright; her gaze soft as she watched the baby, knowing there would be a reason to her question. With Gibbs, there was a reason for everything, even if on some occasions it was merely 'because I said so'.

"She didn't have anywhere else to go." The ex-Marine answered flatly, pain evident in his voice. Whoever this child was, she was important to him, yet having her here was causing him pain.

"Where are her parents?"

"Dead."

"_Who_ were her parents?" She knew that if Gibbs didn't want to answer, he wouldn't.

He answered simply again, emotion evident in his tone. "Family. That's all you need to know."

She blew a soft, frustrated breath past her lips, her hands automatically straying to her hips, an indignant look settling across her features, her lower lip peeking out slightly, a little girl pout being formed. "You bring me a baby and all you say is she's family? What am I meant to do with a baby?"

He could hardly resist her when she pulled that look, the little girl whose Daddy was being mean. But he shook his head anyway. "I'll tell you more, later. For now, look after her. Please."

Gibbs pushed the baby into her arms, brushing a stray lock of blonde hair away from the infant's closed eyes in a gentle gesture, then he turned brusquely, departed from her lab – leaving Abby in a situation she didn't enter often: alone with a child. Who of course chose that moment to awaken from her slumber and make her lung capacity known.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I don't own them, I just use them for my own entertainment.

**Author's Note:** Darn, I guess I'm not as original as I thought with the relationship between the baby and Gibbs, since someone figured it out already ;o) Oh well, it was going to come clean soon anyway! And I apologise for the short chapters, it's been a long time since I've written anything so I'm starting slow!

**Chapter 2**

"Shhhh. Shhhhh. It's okay!" Abby desperately jiggled the child in what she thought was a soothing motion. She couldn't fathom why Gibbs had left a baby with her. Maternal instincts weren't well, exactly her strong point. Give her any complicated evidence needing exact processing and she would know exactly what to do. Hand her a baby and she became... flustered.

Desperately she made her way across her lab, the baby wriggling and squalling in her arms. Setting her down gently on one of the counters where the child immediately started waving her arms and kicking her legs frantically, Abby lifted Bert from where he had been overseeing her work.

"Look! Farting hippo!" she squished her beloved toy, wriggling him a little and trying desperately to distract the infant from crying.

It worked. A smile came across the tiny girl's face and the wriggling arms instead reached out to the toy, his tail soon ending up in her mouth, acting as a makeshift pacifier. Appeased, the baby burbled a little, cuddling the soft toy.

"Awwwwww..." Abby found herself gazing at the baby, a half goofy smile gracing her lips again. Pulling her wheelie chair over, she settled both baby and hippo in her arms, snuggling quite happily while she waited for Gibbs to return.

"Abby! You got my.... " Tony did a double take as he saw the goth lab rat snuggling with a ... baby? "... lab results?" he finished weakly, before his mind was overtaken by what currently seemed more important.

Walking over to them, he poked the baby gently in the belly. "Who's this?"

"Wouldn't we both like to know?" Abby rolled her eyes. "Gibbs shot off before he mentioned that part."

Abby couldn't help her smile widening as Tony scooped the baby up out of her lap. "Hey, midget, who's your Daddy?" he cooed, making the little girl giggle as he zoomed her around in the air. From the child's reactions, it seemed Tony's much self-lauded ability to charm females worked on infants, if not on their fully grown counterparts.

"DiNozzo! Where are those results?"

Tony and Abby both whirled around, guilty looks on their faces before they realised that they actually weren't doing anything wrong, and they relaxed sheepishly, the baby still cradled in Tony's arms. Abby fixed her hands on her hips, and as black a glare as she could give Gibbs in her eyes.

"Well maybe if _someone_ hadn't left me with a baby with hardly an explanation I'd have had time to do them!" She was surprised when Gibbs let out one of his rare grins, but his only actions were to pluck the little one from DiNozzo's arms, snuggling her safely into his own.

Fixing Abby with a true smile, he said softly, "Thank you for looking after my niece, Abs."


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** don't own them, I just use them for my own entertainment.

Tony had found a quick excuse to depart from the lab after Gibbs' revelation. True, he was going to find the rest of the team and impart some knowledge upon them, but it wasn't because he was a gossip, no never! It was because he believed that the team needed to have the knowledge to deal with any situation, and that included the fact that Gibbs had a niece. And that the niece was in the lab, and liked farting hippos. And him. And Abby. Mostly he wanted to boast about the fact that he'd managed to charm a 'gorgeous young thing'. Winding his co-workers up was such an amusing pastime after all.

His eyes rolling to the ceiling, Gibbs watched his senior field agent depart, with little doubt as to where he was headed. As he shifted to turn back to Abby, the baby began to grizzle softly, and he patted her back, shushing her gently until she quietened. "Hush Kaylee, shhh."

Abby Scuito wasn't one to miss details, no matter how offhand they might be delivered. Nor did she miss the similarity between the name he had called the baby, and his own daughter's name – Kelly- and she doubted it was a coincidence. "Kaylee, huh?" she smiled, a questioning note in her voice that she knew Gibbs would recognise.

"Kaylee Shannon." Gibbs' response was almost flat. "Yes, this little one is named after her Aunty and Cousin."

"What happened to her parents?" to Abby, this was the overwhelming question. It was accepted that there were things about Gibbs that she had never known, and things that she never would – but she thought that if he was going to walk in here and leave her with a baby, no matter how slight that length of time had been, she deserved to know the circumstances.

"I got a call this morning. Maria was in a car crash on her way to work. She died on impact."

Assuming Maria was the Mother, Abby tilted her head to the side, waiting for Gibbs to continue, but it seemed he wasn't going to, so she had to ask, "What about her dad?"

A hard look came into the man's eyes, almost causing Abby to take a step backwards. She had only seen that look in his eyes when Ari had killed Kate – a more serious version of the one she had seen when Michael Mauer had almost killed herself – the look reserved for the times when he would like to kill someone who had hurt a person he loved. "He is not part of Kaylee's life, and if he has any sense, he'll keep it that way."

Accepting his hard words with a simple nod, Abby steered the conversation back onto what she hoped was safer ground, "Is she going to stay with you?"

At that question, Gibbs looked very tired, and he sat – she could almost say sank – onto Abby's desk chair. Suddenly, he looked older than he was, and not at all the confident man she was used to. "I don't know if I can do it again, Abby."

She fixed him with a look – a serious, heartfelt look, one that he hadn't seen often on her face, one that meant she truly, utterly meant what she was about to say. And when she said it, it was only three words, but to him they meant the world.

"Let me help."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** Not mine! Except Kaylee, and I think I want to keep her! Can I pleaaaase?

**Author's Note:** Thanks for your kind words those of you who have left reviews. They're really helping an old time 'ficcer to get back on her feet, though I really am a bit rusty with this whole updating thing. In case it needed saying, this is a slightly AU fic – Jenny's alive for one since though this is Abby/Gibbs centric, I don't intend for it to be a romantic 'ship between the two of them.

**Chapter 4**

Those three words sent a rush of warmth through Leroy Jethro Gibbs' heart. He truly, deeply loved Abby. Her selfless offer to help him with a baby was just another sign of the huge heart the Goth lab rat possessed. It was impossible to spend any time in her company and not see how deeply she cared for those she loved, and how far she would be willing to go for them.

The Goth in question fixed him with a smile that was pure Abby mischief, as she broke the serious air that had come between them for a moment. "I've always wanted a little sister, Daddy!"

The gruff Marine let out a bark of laughter, and gently kissed the cheek of his 'daughter'. It was no secret he had a paternal affection for his younger friend, and it was a relationship the two of them cherished – but the 'Daddy' comment reminded him of 'Mommy' who was upstairs in her office, no doubt wondering where he had been for most of the morning. Once he had received the phone call about Maria he had shot off to collect Kaylee, then dropped her off with Abby, he had given Jen only the briefest of reports before returning to the lab and his little niece.

"Soooo..." Abby drawled, quite aware that Gibbs was thinking about a certain redheaded director – he always got a certain look in his eyes when his thoughts drifted upstairs to that office – but she wasn't ready to let him leave yet. There were a few important things she needed to get sorted out.

His attention regained, Gibbs eyed her a trifle suspiciously. He knew that tone, and it meant that Abby was preparing for an interrogation. He could only hope it wasn't about where his attention had just drifted off to. "Yes, Abby?"

"How old is she? What does she like? Is she staying with you? Ummm... where's her diaper bag?..." the stream of questions seemed to burst forth from Abby's mouth, in a fast scramble of words that seemed eager to escape and seek their answers, in case he ran off again.

Gibbs was unable to stop one of his brief smiles flashing across his face as he was bombarded with the excitable stream of questions. Gently, he lay the hand of the arm which was not cradling Kaylee on the forensic specialist's shoulder. "Slow down, Abbs," he reminded her gently. She grinned at him in return.

"Well, start answering then!"

He shook his head at her and gently sat, readjusting Kaylee into his lap so she could continue to sleep – without causing the deadening of his arm which had been starting to occur. Speaking softly, he began to answer the questions. "She's six months old. And yes, she is staying with me. I'm counted as next of kin... Shannon, well, she and Maria were the only family they had left." He sighed, grief passing his eyes as he remembered his beautiful first wife and her energetic younger sister, and the fact that now both of them were gone, much too young.

Kaylee woke in his lap at the mention of her Momma's name, though he knew it was most likely a coincidence, it seemed a poignant one. She had never met her Aunty, had barely had chance to get to know her Momma, but it was painfully obvious to Jethro that this little girl was most definitely of their blood. She looked so much like Kelly had, like the baby photos he cherished, and like those he had seen of Maria and Shannon when they were young. He bounced the tiny girl in his lap gently as he continued talking, the words stopping him from drifting in his own thoughts, keeping him grounded. "Her diaper bag... it's under my desk. I guess... I need to go and get it. And, I don't know what she likes, Abby. But I guess we're going to find out."

Abby was prevented from firing another barrage of questions by the familiar 'ping' of the elevator, and the voice of a very confused Director who was lugging a diaper bag over her shoulder.

"Jethro, why did you have a diaper bag under your desk? I know DiNozzo can be a child... but really...." the redhead's sentence was never to be finished however, as she spotted what was sitting in her former lover's lap, and she instead completed her sentence with a very unintelligent, but emphatic, "HUH?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** Not mine, but they're awful fun to play with!

**Chapter 5**

"Hi Madame Director!"

Jenny winced a little at the hated nickname, though when it came from the cheerful Goth, it was difficult to get annoyed. So, she chose to ignore it. Plus, she really didn't want to try and keelhaul Abby with Gibbs around. It wouldn't end well.

"Hello Abby. Jethro... whose is that?"

"Mine."

It was all Jen could do to hold back another 'huh'. Instead she settled for fixing Gibbs with a displeased look, which did nothing than make the pain-in-her-ass head agent smirk. "Very funny. I _know_ you haven't been getting any, Jethro."

Abby stifled a chortle. The banter between those two never failed to raise a smile – often a hidden smile – on the faces of the team. The joy Gibbs took in winding Jenny up seemed only equalled by the pleasure Jenny seemed to get from shooting him down. She would have liked to have seen the two of them when Jenny had been the Probie.

Jen crossed the room to them, and crouched down next to Gibbs, gently chucking the baby under the chin. "Hullo, little one. What'd you do to get stuck with this great big meany pants here? Huh?" She was fully aware that she was pretty much cooing. But the little girl was really _really_ cute.

"She's my niece, Jen." Jethro's reply was curt, a shred of impatience creeping into his tone as it often did when his former junior agent teased him and he was not in the mood for it. "She's going to be here for... the long run."

Eyebrows raised, the director straightened and stared at Gibbs. "You have a _niece?" _

"Yes, Jen," Jethro sighed. Sometimes, as much as he loved Jennifer Shepard, she got a little too caught up on things that caught her interest for his liking. "Meet Kaylee."

Gently, he set the little girl down on the floor, keeping a close eye on her to ensure she didn't crawl too far away – he could remember all too well how little time it took inquisitive babies to get into things. He could remember the time that Kelly had first found her way near his tools... but... shaking his head, he brought himself back to the present and his little niece – Kelly was gone but for in his heart and bittersweet memories, but Kaylee was in the here and now, and he was determined to give her the best that he could. And when Leroy Jethro Gibbs was determined about something, it was certain that it would happen.

"She's ours now!" Abby grinned energetically, crouching down by the floor to play with the little girl. "We get to keep her, right Gibbs?"

The bemused look on Jenny's face was almost hilarious to Gibbs. "Abby... she's not a puppy, you know?"

"No! She's cuter! And puppies don't learn to talk. Well, not at least in people-talk, although, I once had a dog who did a pretty good impression. She could say her own name and it really sounded like she was saying it in people-talk!"

Despite her better judgement, Jen had to ask. "What was she called?"

"Woof," the Goth forensic specialist deadpanned.

Gibbs rolled his eyes, a move echoed by the Director, though both of them shared a quiet smile over the top of Abby's head. Then Jenny shoved the diaper bag at Jethro's chest. "If I know anything about babies, you're going to need this sooner rather than later."

"Yeah! Tony's probably gonna need a diaper change soon!" Abby giggled.

"Abby," Gibbs said warningly, "If Tony needs a diaper change, _you_ can do it."

Jenny shook her head. "Abby, I've something I need to ask you about regarding some blood work. But I'll come back later." Escaping while she still could – but ensuring to wave at the baby before she did – the director retreated back to the elevator and the sanity of the upstairs room.

Letting out a full throated laugh, Gibbs sat on the ground next to Abby, wrapping an arm around his forensic specialist's shoulders. "I don't think I've ever seen her leave that quickly. I think we've found the trick to getting rid of our Director – just mention dirty diapers."

Abby leant into his embrace, smiling softly "Yeah well, they're enough to bring a grown man to tears... aren't they Kaylee? Yes, diapers are icky icky aren't they, huh?"

It seemed that no-one could resist talking babytalk to the little girl, who just stared back at Abby with big blue eyes, which seemed to be eerily similar to Gibbs' – which was strange seeing as she was no blood relation, but maybe he was rubbing off on her already. Oh god, mini-Gibbs. Mini-_female_ Gibbs, even worse. Abby knew full well what an irate female could be like, and add a Gibbs influence into the mix, and well, this little girl was going to be a force to be reckoned with when she grew up.

"I think we should take the rest of the afternoon off Gibbs! We need to go baby shopping." Abby was sure that Gibbs would have some things, somewhere, left from Kelly, but he couldn't possibly have everything a six-month-old could need stashed in that house of his.

"Sounds like a plan."

It took very little effort to get permission from the Director to take leave for the rest of the afternoon, and together the two of them gathered up Kaylee and the few belongings she had, and headed for the shops.

Oh, this was going to be _fun_.


End file.
